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Mink farmers in southwestern Ontario are keeping a close watch on their operations following four attacks over the past year.

“It's all speculation but clearly when you get repeat offences in an area you have to assume that the people are likely operating in the area, and perhaps live in the area,” Gary Hazlewood, executive director of the Canadian Mink Breeders Association, said Wednesday.

“Until somebody's caught there's always an expectation that this could happen again, and as long as there are farms that are not adequately monitored or have adequate security, then the risk remains. But clearly what would be best is to catch the people and hold them accountable for what they've done. It might take some of the mystique and fun out of it.”

Hazlewood is a former mink farmer who lives near two St. Marys operations that had hundreds of nursing mink released from their pens in late May and early July of 2015. Hundreds more were released from an operation in Guelph later in July.

Then overnight this past Friday, over 500 mink were released from a Brant County farm.

A group calling itself the Willow Pond Mink Freedom Movement claimed responsibility for the latest attack and sent a video of the release to a CTV station in Kitchener.

Along with the video they sent an email saying: "Life in a dirty , stinking cage is no life at all… seeing these animals touch the grass for the first time ever gave us an indescribable feeling of joy."

The CMBA has posted a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of persons involved with any of the attacks.

“There's no element of animal welfare involved in these attacks,” Hazlewood said, suggesting that the perpetrators should be charged with animal cruelty in addition to other charges they might face.

Contacted Wednesday, a spokesperson at the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) said that she wasn't sure whether animal cruelty charges would fall under their jurisdiction or with the Ministry of Natural Resources but that she would investigate.

The OSPCA Act expressly prohibits individuals from causing an animal to be in distress. And that's what mink farmers say happens to released mink, despite extremists' suggestion that that are able to survive in the wild without difficulty.

“These are domesticated animals that have been raised on farms for more than 100 generations. They cannot fend for themselves in the wild, so most will die,” said Kirk Rankin, a former CMBA president whose St. Marys farm was targeted last year. “And the few that do survive will endanger domesticated ducks or chickens in the region. This is a despicable and irresponsible act.”

Mink are fast, sharp-toothed carnivores and one can wipe out an entire chicken coop in minutes. In 2013, the illegal release of 500 mink from a fur farm in British Columbia resulted in the slaughter of ducklings at nearby poultry farms.

The Perth County OPP said that the two incidents in St. Marys remain under investigation. Police are in constant communication with the farmers to ensure their properties are secure, and are keeping an eye on the farms themselves.

“We're asking that people watch for vehicles that don't belong on the back roads and that are there at odd times,” said Const. Kees Wijnands of the Perth County OPP. “If you notice something, get a license plate number. Those little bits of information become important."

Hazlewood said that mink farmers, most of them small family-run operations, are recognizing that they have little choice but to tighten up the security on their properties.

“The farming community lived for years and years never having to deal with this sort of thing. There was a respect for property and people that we don't have these days,” he said. “I think perhaps we're a little bit slow in understanding that people are out there who get great pleasure in causing other people distress.”